Asphalt-based roofing materials, such as roofing shingles, roll roofing and commercial roofing, are manufactured from a single sheet of asphalt-coated material. During the manufacturing process, the asphalt-coated material is temporarily contained in a finish looper before cutting the material and packaging for delivery. Typically, the finish looper includes a plurality of looper rolls for forming a plurality of free hanging loops of the asphalt-coated material. The looper rolls travel in a downstream direction, toward shingle cutting and packaging stations, and the continuous shingle material is withdrawn from the loops of the looper as needed for operation of the shingle cutter and packager. The finish looper enables the continuous shingle material to accumulate for a short period of time in the event of a temporary stopping or slowing down of the shingle cutter and/or shingle cutter. Also, the finish looper enables a continuous supply of continuous shingle material to be supplied for a short period when the asphalt coater or other apparatus associated with the forming of the continuous shingle material is temporary slowed or stopped upstream of the finish looper.
During normal operating conditions, the asphalt-coated material is payed out of the finish looper by a pulling or withdrawing of the material from each of the loops of the looper, one at a time. During normal operation the loops are pulled out at a rate as fast as every few seconds. As each loop is pulled out of the looper, the last few feet of the material becomes suddenly taut as the next or subsequent loop is pulled to sheet payout speed. The sudden tautness or jerking causes the shingle material to experience a strong spike of tensile stress. This tendency for the shingle material to snap taut is exacerbated by the tendency of the next or subsequent loop to actually pull back on the previous loop during the last stages of the pulling out of each loop, thereby increasing the speed differential of the material relative to the sheet payout speed. This jerking of the asphalt-coated material may cause a break in the asphalt-coated material, which in turn, causes significant delays in the manufacturing operation. Accordingly, there is a need for an apparatus for use with a finish looper that reduces breaks in the asphalt-coated sheet during manufacturing.